Acute recurrent polyhydramnios and amniotic prolactin

A 25 year-old patient in her third pregnancy presented with acute polyhydra mnios at 24 weeks' gestation, which was the same time as in the two previou s pregnancies. In both she had preterm premature rupture of membranes, pret erm delivery and neonatal deaths. In the third pregnancy, amnioreductions c ombined with medical treatment resulted in the birth by Caesarean section o f a normally formed live male at 31 weeks of pregnancy. Acute recurrent pol yhydramnios is an extremely rare condition of unknown aetiology. We hypothe sized that amniotic prolactin plays a role in this pathology. It was measur ed serially in amniotic fluid and high levels were found. Copyright (C) 200 0 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.